Fever Dream – interview with LEA

Are you happy about the success your first EP “Fever Dream” has obtained so far?

I’m happy with the music, and happy with people’s response to the music. But I am so excited to release something new that will be available on platforms I’ve never been on before – Spotify, iTunes, etc., and to give people a listen further into who I’ve become as an artist in the last few years.

Is there a link, lyrically speaking, between all the songs of the EP?

There is. My first EP was a lot about angst; discovering who I was before I moved to New York, coming to terms with sexuality, gender, and people I had felt wronged me.

This new EP is about what happened after my move and acceptance of myself; who I was left with when I moved to a place where I knew no one, how I grew into myself and my body.

There are tracks about confidence, and tracks about not knowing who I am at all. I think it depicts the unsure landscape of most people in their early 20s.

When you will release your new EP?

We’re aiming for February or March!

How do you usually write your lyrics?

I’m a big fan of poetry, so most journals I have are filled with more abstract writing.

Sometimes it can be difficult to trim it down to song structure, but Mike Irish did a fantastic job at nurturing my heady lyrics and helping me transform them into what I wanted to sing.

What does music mean to you?

Music is limitless. It spans so many areas of my life. I could say something simple, like it saves me, or I’m addicted to it, or it gives me a reason to live. But it’s not that easy, and I owe everything to the people who attempt to answer these questions in their own works of art.

What inspired “Blood Lust”?

MJ Dorian approached me about singing this song that he wrote and produced by himself.

Originally he gave me the sheet music without me ever having heard a note. He told me he wanted the music to come completely from my voice, as original as possible.

This was exciting for me, since I’d spent so many years listening to and mimicking the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Jeff Buckley, Billie Holiday, etc. I could finally take a stab at something as myself. And it didn’t hurt that MJ has a very interesting, dark side that lent to an esoteric murder mystery music video.

Do you remember the day you wrote “Such a Lovely Thing”?

Such a Lovely Thing had existed in pages for months before I decided to do anything with it. Dominic Fallacaro, the producer of FEVER DREAM, helped make it into what I had been envisioning.